THE THINGS I GAVE YOU.
» THE BANK — INTRODUCTORY NOTES
District 2 is open, bringing with it access to new and interesting locations—including the city's main bank branch. The bank is a large building with a stone exterior, wrought iron grating on the windows, and large, heavy metal doors that take surprisingly little effort to open, their hinges silent and well-oiled.
Early in the day on July 19, characters in the vicinity of the bank will hear first a low, metallic creaking sound from inside the building, like metal straining against metal. This is followed by the sharper noise of locks disengaging, and then the large, heavy doors on the front of the building swing open slightly, enough to let a person through.
Directly inside the doors is the bank lobby, and beyond that is the main banking floor, with elegant marble flooring and dimly lit chandeliers. It would appear that this was once the main commercial bank of the city, although it is now completely empty, with no tellers behind the counters and no cash in any of the drawers.
You may rifle through the tills and filing cabinets to your heart's content, but similar to the files in City Hall, there is no useful information to be found—all the papers are blank, or are empty forms without any personally identifying information. There are no monetary devices to be found either; this is, after all, not a city that operates on a cash system, so there are no coins or paper bills in any of the tills or, indeed, anywhere within the bank.
What you might be able to find, though, is a rack of delicate, burnished brass keys on a wall toward the back of the main banking hall. Each of these keys is attached to a stamped metal keychain bearing a name on one side and a number on the other. Some of these may be names you recognize, and some of them may not, but they are all names belonging to current residents of the city, and each key corresponds to a safety deposit box within the vault at the back of the building. Can you remember what you stored in that box for safekeeping? Maybe you had better go find out.
At the back of the main banking hall is a vault secured with a large circular metal door. The door is currently unlocked and propped open; it can be closed, but cannot be locked (intentionally, anyway) from either the inside or the outside. The vault contains row upon row of safety deposit boxes, each locked. Participating characters who are in possession of a key can open their own safety deposit box, but it is not currently possible to force open any safety deposit box that does not belong to them. After August 1, players will be able to use their safety deposit boxes to store their own belongings, and break-ins will become possible with prior player permission and appropriate consequences.
Below sections detail the safety deposit boxes for both choose-your-own-adventure players and randomized players! Please see the randomized matches for this event HERE.
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IT'S TRUE, PEOPLE TAKE THINGS BUT RARELY.
» SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES — A SELF-GUIDED TOUR
For some of you, getting into your safety deposit box is quite straightforward.
You take your key from the rack behind the teller's counter and make your way back through the building and into the vault. It's cool inside, the temperature well-regulated and the air dry. On the walls are rows upon rows of safety deposit boxes, and it may take you a moment to find the one that corresponds to the number stamped on your key. Does that number mean anything to you? It may, or it may not.
When you find your box, it takes very little effort to open it. A slide of your key, a quick turn, and the safety deposit box's door springs open to reveal the metal container within. You remove the metal box from the wall and bring it over to the table in the center of the room, clearly placed there for this express purpose. Maybe there are others around, or maybe you're alone. Do you remember yet, what it was you put in here? Well, there's no time like the present to check.
You open the safety deposit box to find—something that shouldn't be there. It's yours, that much you're sure of, but you didn't bring it with you to the city. You reach into the box to pick it up, and the surge of memory is immediate, sending your mind back to your strongest memory associated with the item in your hand.
Then the vault door swings shut, trapping you inside with whoever else has the misfortune of sharing the vault with you right now. No matter what force you try, the door won't open again. There doesn't appear to even be a mechanism that unlocks the door from the inside, and from within several feet of metal and stone, no one on the outside will be able to hear you shout. It seems hopeless—how long can anyone last, trapped in a place like this?
Should you turn back to the open safety deposit box, you might notice a slip of paper resting on the bottom. The paper looks aged, like it's been in the box for quite some time, and in printed text it reads: "Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it."
Maybe it means you should let another hold the item you've retrieved from the box… or maybe it means you should share the weight of memory. Try to interpret the meaning in whatever way you can. But should you decide to unburden yourself, and share with someone else the weight of the item you're holding in your hands, you may find that there's a means of escape after all.
Once you free yourself from the vault, for the next several days you find yourself feeling rather honest, like you may not be able to stop yourself from confessing the truth about the item you now carry…
Characters who wish to participate in the event, but who do not wish to randomize the contents of their safety deposit boxes, can open their safety deposit boxes to find an emotionally significant item belonging to the character—player's choice as to what the item is. The only guidelines are that it should be small enough to fit reasonably in a pocket and may not have any magical or weapon properties. Similarly, players are able to choose the memories associated with the items in the safety deposit boxes. The vault door will remain closed until the characters in the vault explain to each other the significance of their items and the memory associated with them, at which point it the vault mechanisms will disengage and the door will swing open as if it had never closed to begin with. However, for the four days following the event, characters who carry their safety deposit box item on their person will feel oddly compelled to tell other characters about its significance and meaning.
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A CRASH-SITE IS SACRED, WE'RE FAITHFUL.
» SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES — A JOINT VENTURE
For others of you, the contents of the safety deposit box may be considerably more disconcerting.
You also take your safety deposit box key from the rack behind the bank teller's counter and make your way back through the building and into the vault. It's cool inside, the temperature well-regulated and the air dry. On the walls are rows upon rows of safety deposit boxes, and it may take you a moment to find the one that corresponds to the number stamped on your key. Does that number mean anything to you? It may, or it may not.
When you find your box, it takes very little effort to open it. A slide of your key, a quick turn, and the safety deposit box's door springs open to reveal the metal container within. You remove the metal box from the wall and bring it over to the table in the center of the room, clearly placed there for this express purpose. Maybe there are others around, or maybe you're alone. Do you remember yet, what it was you put in here? Well, there's no time like the present to check.
You open the safety deposit box to find—wait, what is that? It certainly doesn't belong to you. Tucked inside the safety deposit box alongside the item is a slip of paper with another name on it, as well as a cryptic message: "Nothing is yours. It is to use. It is to share. If you will not share it, you cannot use it." The item isn't yours, but it does appear to belong to another resident of the city. Maybe your safety deposit boxes somehow got mixed up? It seems like it would be a good idea to find this person and return their property to them.
Whether you encounter the owner of the item in the vault or elsewhere in the city, when it comes time to hand the item over, two things happen. One—the doors are locked tight, refusing to allow either you or the item's owner out until you both understand what the item is and what it means to the other. To unburden your heart is the only way to free yourself.
And two—as the owner of the item explains its significance, you find yourself oddly captivated, resonating strongly with whatever emotion the item's owner most closely associates with it. You may not be able to see the memory that the other person describes, but you can certainly feel the emotions they felt—after all, the easiest way to unburden oneself is to share the load with another. Isn't that right?
Once you free yourself from your enthralled state, and once you have your own belongings returned to you, for the next several days you find yourself feeling rather honest, like you may not be able to stop yourself from confessing the truth about the item you now carry…
Characters who opted to randomize the contents of their safety deposit box during the plotting post, or who plotted a joint experience with another character, will open their safety deposit boxes to find a small, non-magical but emotionally significant item belonging to another player character in the city. They will need to find the owner of that item and return it to them—this can either be inside the bank vault or in another location within the city. Regardless of where the meeting takes place, the character holding the item will find themselves unable to leave until the character who owns the item explains its significance; as they do, the holder of the item will find themselves swept up in the emotional highs and lows of the memories associated with that item, allowing them to share all of the feelings, regrets, joys, griefs, and rages that the owner experiences in the telling. Additionally, for the four days following the event, characters who carry their safety deposit box item on their person will feel oddly compelled to tell other characters about its significance and meaning.
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WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.
If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations.
This month's event headers come from "The Things" and "The Gatherer," two poems by Brendan Constantine. The text of the paper slip comes from Ursula K. LeGuin's The Dispossessed.
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citylogs2023-07-19 08:45 pm
Re: IV. In the Open
But as she continues, his frown deepens.]
No, not that isn’t right. It wasn’t him that made the poor decision. [Unless, of course, the poor decision had been trusting Loki in the first place. He is the one who stole the Tesseract from Asgard during Ragnarok. It is his actions that lead Thanos to their people, not Thor.
He doesn’t say any of that though, just stares off for a moment, not liking hearing about Thor taking things so badly.]
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[ And failure is something she can understand. It's something they could all understand. Those "heroes" that had survived the snapping of Thanos's fingers. What more could they have done or should they have done differently? In her case, she wished her sister had simply let her die. She wonders if the Soul Stone would never be obtained, but at least Gamora would have lived. ]
He was the one who failed to take the kill that would have prevented it.
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Thor missed his shot? [Now that does surprise Loki and he makes no attempt to hide it.] He must have been off his game. He has always been one of the best warriors of Asgard. Actually the best, and trust me when I say I do not say that lightly.
[Loki sighs and looks away for a moment.] It is not his fault. If it was not for my selfishness and greed, Thanos would not have had the Space Stone in the first place.
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[ If there had been any doubt this was the man she'd began to think it was then it's faded completely. Of course, someone who knew him would think as highly of him as he did himself. ] I'm sure you believe it.
[ She says it dryly. ]
But he still lost.
We all did. It doesn't matter who's fault it was; Thanos always gets what he wants in the end.
[ She says that much somberly and adds, ] Nothing gets in his way.
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He notes her tone and rolls his eyes.] I would guess I would know better who was the best warrior on Asgard than you. Seeing as you've never been there.
[He didn't, after all, say he was the best ever, or the best in the universe, simply the best in Asgard.]
He did. Not so long ago I would've taken great joy in hearing that. It's still not the worst news, I admit. You can't fully reach your potential if you always win.
Yes, that would explain his confidence. [So would the fact that he beat him, Thor and the Hulk all in one go, though Loki did not see it as a fair fight.]
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[ Is she talking about Gamora? Probably. She spent so long fighting with her sister for her to just disappear. But that's not it entirely, so she adds: ] Maybe if all of you didn't let him grow such an ego he wouldn't be so annoying.
[ To be fair to her, she had to deal with Thor's 80s come back fight people doing the splits and then wrecking shit. She wants him taken down a couple of notches.. ]
[ Even if she'd prefer it wasn't Thanos who... That's complicated she breathes out: ] Well. He was the most powerful being in the universe.
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[Her next statement only makes him laugh. A real, honest laugh that takes him a minute to recover from.] Oh, I did try, but my word is not worth much on Asgard. I am quite good at convincing people of things, but that Thor wasn't the gods greatest gift was something even I could not accomplish.
[His laughter died completely then.] Yes, he made that abundantly clear. [And if Loki touched his neck as he spoke, well it meant nothing, right?]
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[ About New Asgard. She doesn't say she cannot lie because she never learned. That's a private thought, one only people who knew her and her history would have an inkling of. Thanos didn't teach his children to and lying to him would have been death. ]
No wonder he's such a muscle-brained idiot.
[ Nebula's answer is in a breath. If she had to choose between Drax or Thor it would be Drax - and it's only recently she started seeing Drax for who he really was. ]
[ She tilts her head at him, brows furrowing at the response and then looks away quickly. A moment and she says: ]
He's dead now.
[ Thanos she hopefully clearly means, not Thor. ]
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He smirks at her description of Thor.] Yes, he really does come across that way, doesn't he? If anyone knew how I was behind most of what people thought were his political moves, I'm sure they would be very unhappy. [Loki didn't think too badly of his brother anymore, but he cannot and does not fault her for her opinion.]
I heard. I cannot say it makes me sad to hear. [Though he doesn't know her relationship to Thanos, even if he did, he wouldn't care. Thanos had destroyed half his people and from what he's heard, half of all the universe, but most importantly, he had killed him and Loki isn't exactly the forgiving type.]
I assume you had your encounters with Thanos as well?
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[ The Thor she knew had no head for more than his own ego most days. He was the one who left New Asgard in different hands - but she doesn't say as much. Doesn't care to. Even if they spent the better part of a year or two on a ship together, it's not like she really knew him - never really wanted to. ]
[ Nebula nods, expression emotionless. She'd cried when her father was beheaded - but it was as much a twisted feeling of loss of that figure and the freedom it had meant. She has no remorse for him, even if a part of her ached to truly get recoginized. It was backwards and stupid, but emotional abuse does twist you in the funniest ways. ]
[ She's glad he's dead. That doesn't mean there's some underlying complications of it. ]
I did. [ She tilts her head ] He took me from my home as a child and raised me as his daughter.
[ The venom with which she says daughter is more sarcasm then casual statement - because when she finally started to escape his clutches she'd made that realization. A father would care for and protect you, Thanos had done none of that. ]
There was no one who could have wanted him dead more than me.
[ Sorry, Loki. This is just how she feels but then... look at her. ]
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Loki raises his eyebrows in surprise. He has heard tales of Thanos doing such things, but had only ever met those who had willingly called themselves his children.]
No, I suppose that would be true. It is always different, harsher, when it is your own supposed parent causing you the most harm. [Because clearly from her reaction Thanos had caused her much harm. He has no idea that her physical state is due to him, but if told he will hardly be surprised.]
There was a time I felt similarly about my own so-called father. Though he was not nearly as bad as yours. [In fact, Loki has mostly forgiven Odin his transgressions, even if only because Odin died and in the end, Loki ended up believing that Odin hadn’t done what he did out of malice.]
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[ For a moment, she listens instead of saying anything. In some ways, there's quiet reflection. It had taken her years to figure out that Thanos's treatment was not that of a parent. It had been a challenge to trust her sister, because the only thing he'd fostered in their family was anger, resentment, and jealousy. Being anything other than that were not things she had been taught - they had been taught - it's why to this day their relationship was something of cracked glass getting mended, fragile and uneasy. ]
[ Thanos's idea of love was not that of a parent. So she listens, she thinks, and swallows (hard) before offering simply: ]
You will not see me forgive him for the damage he has done.
[ Somehow it almost sounds like a 'for the damage I have done' as well. ]
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If he were ever to find out about her relationship with her sister, he would understand that quite well too. It wasn’t easy living in your sibling’s shadow, no matter the conditions.]
I would not expect you to. I cannot imagine a scenario where he deserves forgiveness from anyone he has affected. [But, he would guess, she had it worse than most who had had a run in with Thanos.]
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[ She says it coolly. It may be true that she was a Daughter of Thanos and she would not deny the way she raised - cannot, as it's fundamentally engrained in her and in the shape of her body... This did not mean she wanted to be associated with him. To be thought she somehow believed in him and was saddened by his dead. Perhaps, the part of her that had been so twisted by his upbringing - desperate for some positivity - had been. But the rest of her? The rest of her had wanted his death to be slow and agonizing, as her every day had been under him. ]
[ She shakes her head, ]
Dwelling on the past does not help our present.
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[His tone is rather cool as well, but there’s a bit of a sparkle in his eyes. He would love to celebrate the death of the Mad Titan. It was clear that she was more affected by Thanos’ death than she would like to be, which was understandable to say the least, though he’s sure that telling her that will not help anything. He knows it would not have helped him if he were in that position.]
No, I suppose it does not. I was never very good at forgetting though.
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[ Thanos had no lacking of enemies. She's not sure if that counts her. She was glad he was dead, but maybe there's that complicated feeling that keeps her from wanting to celebrate it. Or maybe, it's because most days, she tries to keep him as far away from her current life as she can. She spent so long wanting to be free, she does not want him to have a place in her breath or mind.]
Nor am I. But there are better things to think about.
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[He doesn't yet know how right he is, having met a few, but not yet knowing who they are. Though Loki would have no qualms celebrating the death of anyone who had wronged him (he had killed his own birth father after all. And there was an argument to be had over how much his actions had lead to Odin's death as well and he did not feel guilty about either), he could understand that kind of reasoning.]
I suppose you are correct in that. I simply am not very good at it. It has... caused me many issues in my past. [And if that wasn't the understatement of the century.]
Well then, let us think of better things. Like how to get out of this damned city.